NBA and NEST/NEWT have big weekend in store

With the bowling season beginning to wind down, weekends do not get any bigger than this one.

Saturday is a prelude of sorts, with the Albany USBC Tournament kicking off at Town ‘n Country Lanes at 1:30 p.m., and the New York State Tournament beginning 10 10 a.m. at Spare Time-South Glens Falls (with additional squad times at 2 and 6 p.m. Satureday and 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday).

The state tournament runs for four successive weekends, through May 5-6.

The Albany USBC Tournament has 1:30 p.m. squads both weekend days. Other times are 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 22, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 29.

The main course of local tournament action is Sunday, with two events taking place that should be mandatory viewing.

The NBA has its season-ending Bob Guild Championships beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Del Lanes. If you are one of the 48 who have qualified (you needed three tournaments to do so), you are in for a treat.

Tournament director Karl Bieber has shared that first place will be worth $1,000, no matter the number of entries, and he is going to pay out approximately 1 in 3.

You can attribute 100 percent of that to membership fees during the season and the hard work done by all the NBA staff. If you have the time to bowl, you should, as you’ve earned the chance at winning all the extra money that each of you have put in during the year.

Click on the NBA website link Stockade Bowl to find out the names of those eligible, the Cuby Cup standings for the season’s top bowler, and more.

Sunday has another highlight in Jim Burton’s New Era Senior Tour event taking place at Sportsman’s Bowl beginning at 10:30 a.m.

With this tournament stop, Jim has has opened up another division, titling it the NEWT (New Era Women’s Tournament), where he will have a women’s tournament running alongside his normal senior event.

Jim had thought about holding a tournament like this for some time, but he needed the support of the women in the area, and they certainly have complied. As of Thursday afternoon 39 women had committed to bowl. He has room for 40, so he is almost full.

All of the women who have entered the tournament should be commended. With this kind of support, Jim will be able to hold more events like this next year, and there might be additional avenues open to the ladies as well as a result.

It’s going to be a high-quality field in both tournaments Sunday, and highly entertaining to watch. For those of you in the area that love the game, make sure you check out both tournaments. I know I will. I only wish I could clone myself so I could attend both in full.

Good luck to all those competing on Sunday, and kudos to both Karl Bieber (along with his staff including Ray Evans, Bill Buell, and Russ Hunter) and Jim Burton for their hard work in making such tremendous tournaments a reality.